Nutanix Inc., a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, has helped the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) digitise its collection of Indigenous Australian artefacts and cultural archive collection. 

For over 50 years, AIATSIS has developed and cared for a unique collection that contributes to building understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ cultures and heritage.  

Housing more than 1 million works, AIATSIS recognised the need for a more sophisticated way to manage large volumes of data – particularly when generated at remote locations. 

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“Creating opportunities for people to encounter, engage and be transformed by our First Nations peoples is a vastly different challenge in today’s digital government and society compared with our founding more than 50 years ago,” AIATSIS Deputy CIO Syed Jaffary said. 

“Timely, digitised access to the resources in the AIATSIS collection makes it easier for First Nations communities to access that material and helps in bringing knowledge of the planet’s oldest living cultures before a much wider audience. It all comes down to the power within our IT environment.” 

The implementation of Nutanix AHV and the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine created a powerful IT layer that extended the performance of AIATSIS core data centre to remote edge locations.  

This enabled large data sets to be analysed faster and with more accuracy. The critical IT infrastructure, which underpinned the digitisation project, can be managed remotely from AIATSIS’ headquarters in Canberra, allowing applications and artefacts to be ingested in minutes. 

Canberra-based Nutanix partner Qirx played a key hand in deploying the IT architecture for central and edge applications, which also helped AIATSIS simplify infrastructure management and reduce operational overheads.  

With these efficiency improvements, the government agency has been able to dedicate more resources toward implementing innovative technologies across its operations. 

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“Preserving more than 65,000 years of Indigenous history ensures we can celebrate the traditional owners of this land long into the future,” Nutanix Managing Director ANZ Jim Steed said.

“By digitising its vast collection, AIATSIS is making these unique cultural artefacts accessible to schools and communities across Australia. This is vital as future generations can learn from those who first made this land their home.” 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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